HOSTAGE TO FORTUNE by WEISS KIRSTEN

Author:WEISS, KIRSTEN [WEISS, KIRSTEN]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: misterio press
Published: 2020-05-21T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I propped my feet on my coffee table, slipped on my headset, and relaxed for the evening into some well-deserved zombie-Nazi killing in World War II Rome.

I blasted a Nazi, taking out an obelisk in the process. It tilted, achingly slowly, and crashed to the stone pavement, fragments scattering.

“Whoa,” Razzzor said in my ear. “Did you have to take out a priceless Egyptian antiquity?” He shot a zombie crawling over the rubble.

“Yes.” I adjusted my headset. “Yes, I did.”

Three zombies emerged from a trattoria and staggered toward us.

“That obelisk was standing for thousands of years,” he said.

“That obelisk was a bunch of pixels.” I aimed and downed each zombie in turn. This was Razzzor’s element. Online, through a headset, we could just be Razzzor and AbsOfSteele363.

He blew out his breath.

“What?” I asked.

“I don't think you're taking this seriously.”

“Of course I'm not taking it seriously. That's the whole point of this game. They're zombie Nazis. Not only do they represent some of the worst of humanity, they're already dead. And they don’t exist. There's no moral gray area, because there's no such thing as zombie Nazis.”

Razzzor didn't respond.

“You weren’t talking about the game, were you?” I asked.

“My psychiatrist says I should be more direct about telling people what I feel.”

My thumb hovered over the controller. “Okay. What are you feeling?”

“I feel that you're not being fair to Deva. I saw the expression on your face when Barry mentioned the gambling.”

“If she needs money, and she’s mad at you, and she knows wine, and her boyfriend was selling fake bottles of yours… Well, you’re the one who suspected she might be behind the wine counterfeiting.” A zombie crawled out of a gelato shop. I blew its head off, splattering zombie brains across the stone wall.

“I know. I just... I thought she might be the real thing. You know?”

I set the controller in my lap, my insides twisting.

I knew. It might be better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, but it was also a major gut kick.

“I'm sorry,” I said. “I had no idea things were that serious.”

“I guess they weren't. Not for her, at least. We dated a month, and she ended things. She said I—it doesn't matter.”

“She broke up with you?” I repeated, scrunching my forehead in thought. So much for revenge as a motive for faking Razzzor's wine. But if Deva needed money badly enough, maybe revenge didn't factor into it at all.

But if Deva needed money, all she had to do was ask Razzzor and he would have given her some.

He was that kind of guy.

“Did you two ever, um, talk about money?” I said cautiously.

“No. Why would we?”

Huh. I liked Deva better for not asking.

“I just feel like there's something else going on,” Razzzor said. “Something we don't understand. And I'm not talking about the breakup. I'm talking about this wine business. Counterfeiting thousand-dollar wine isn’t worth killing over.”

I checked my watch. Eight o'clock.

“What's Deva’s number?” I asked.

“What? Why?”

“It’s time to talk to her directly.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.